IKENNA EMEWU
The siege of kidnaps and killings in Igboland has taken a nice dimension this time. The kidnappers abducted a powerful citizen whose voice is loud enough to be heard because of his important and outstanding position in society.
I don’t want to be mistaken for supporting the IPOB or any group that takes to violence, but I have to point out that from the day the prison in Owerri was attacked by armed bands on April 5, 2021, IPOB has always been blamed for every violence in Southeast Nigeria by the security agencies even when they deny such acts.
Quite interestingly, the security system without investigation, all the time immediately concludes that IPOB was behind whatever happened.
It has become so commonplace that even people who don’t align with or support IPOB are asking how it arrives at the swift conclusions without investigations.
These things make many believe that they would possibly be some other forces helping to paint Igbo land in blood all the time. I recall the Ebonyi State governor, Dave Umahi saying sometimes that a lot of criminal bodies exist in the region who do things that are readily heaped on IPOB and its ESN.
It has been along many people started suspecting that some external hands might be fueling crises in the region that are never been mentioned.
What surprised me in the case at hand is the language in which the Nigerian Army on June 1 reacted to the allegations by the Prelate.
What even made this incident an issue and worth the response of the Army is the high standing of the cleric, Bishop Samuel Uche.
Moreover, Uche wasn’t the type that would go home and swallow the pains. In the past, victims were debriefed not to admit that ransom was paid. But with the Prelate, no way. He spoke the whole truth and said how much was paid and who did. In his graphic details of what happened, the Army feels jittery and concocted a statement in denial.
We however never expected the Army to admit its officers or men are part of criminality. Of course, those caught in the past by the system were punished, but that does not make the allegation by the cleric strange or new.
There are so many instances of soldiers facing trial by the Army for complicity in the fight against Boko Haram or in kidnaps in North West Nigeria. It is not possible that the soldiers posted to the southeast are so angelic that the Army through the spokesman, Brig. Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu wants us to believe they do no wrong.
Soldiers have been caught and punished for going beyond their brief into illegality while fighting Boko Haram and the bandits in the North East and North West like the recent instance in Zamfara State. Surprisingly, none was ever caught in a similar act in the south East. Is there a mandate to the army down this side to do just anything and all are justified?
The latest was in April involving Lance Cpl. Jibrin Mohammed, a weapons instructor at the Geidam Army base in Yobe State was later reported to have committed suicide after he was arrested and detained.
So why was the statement signed by Nwachukwu worded like that is the first time soldiers have been indicted over complicity when most of the allegations in the past had been proven true?
The statement was to cow the Prelate or put him on the spot. That is not an important assignment. The task should be to unravel his claims, arrest the people involved, and maybe the civilians among them can give the Army more clues to who works with them from the military circles.
It sounded laughable for the Army to say it will hold the Prelate accountable. That is outright bullying and intimidation of this free citizen who didn’t lose his mind while abducted.
It didn’t make sense for Nwachukwu to say: “Moreso, the NA unit, has not received any debrief from the Prelate of the Methodist Church.
It is, therefore, important to state that troops are deployed at Forward Operating Base(FOB) Okigwe and in front of the Abia State University Uturu, and no information was made available to them or to 14 Brigade or any other formation, except the information making the rounds in the social media.”
Should your soldiers who engaged in kidnap call to inform you about that or is it the duty of the kidnap victim to report to the Army?
The Army also claimed that “troops’ deployment in the Nigerian Army is not done with considerations for ethnic affiliation, hence the deployment of troops of Fulani ethnic extraction who as alleged by the Prelate, carried out the dastardly act is not our practice or modus operandi in the NA.
So sorry, General Nwachukwu, facts on the ground prove your claims wrong. For instance, earlier this year, the Intersociety, an Onitsha-based civil rights group clarified that: “Intersociety has therefore statistically investigated and found that appointment of Northern Muslims as senior Army commanders in Igbo land is fueling killings and abductions targeted at innocent and defenseless Igbo population. For instance, the present Commander of the 34 Brigade in Owerri, Imo State is Brigadier-General Ibrahim Tukura. The Commander of the 14 Brigade in Ohafia, Abia State is Brigadier General M. Ibrahim. The Commander of the 63 Brigade in Asaba, Delta State is Brig Gen A. Idris and the Cantonment Commandant of 302 Artillery Regiment in Onitsha, Anambra State is Col Abdulsalam Abubakar Sambo.”
The appointments are factual and support ethnic consideration, but what remains to be validated is such officers fueling the killing of the Igbo. That is so far, an allegation.
That also applies to the police where almost all the police commissioners in the South East since 2016 are also of the north and same religion. It is the same story with the directors of the DSS in the states of the region.
So, on what basis do you convince anybody that the postings are not based on ethnic considerations when the facts prove the contrary?
Intersociety further alleged that: “It is no longer hidden that the Nigerian Army is now being used to kill, abduct and rape defenseless citizens on the grounds of their religion and ethnicity. A clear case in point was Obigbo in Rivers State where the Nigerian Army deceptively claimed to be embarking on a secular and professional military operation targeting criminal citizens’ but ended up perpetrating mass murders and unspeakable acts of torture, abduction, rape, and disappearances. This is to the extent of abducting over 400 defenseless citizens, out of which over 390 have been traced and serially raping scores of abducted women in its captivity.”
Did the Army ever investigate these accusations and brief Nigerians with contrary information to prove them wrong?
Regarding the complicity of Nigerian soldiers in the wars against enemies of the state, we have a very long list that would not make sense to start recasting them.
They are so common and no longer news.
In conclusion, we would advise the army to do its internal checks and stop invoking intimidation with its guns against victmised citizens for reporting their ordeals.
One day, another government that has a human face, and maybe not hateful of the Igbo, would come and these issues revisited.
